The Ithaca College women’s and men’s rowing teams dominated in Liberty League action during races against the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers and the University of Rochester Yellowjackets on Senior Day April 6 at the Cayuga Inlet.

The teams honored seniors Wesley Hoglin, Caroline Grass, Maxwell Vallino, Aubren Villasenor, Emma Anderson, Meghan Bell, Melanie Belmont, Chloe Croft, Emma Hammel, Avery LaVergne, Erin Trojan, along with graduate students Laura Trainor and Taylor Volmrich. 

It was a windy day at the Inlet, with top speeds reaching 21 MPH. Despite the elements, both teams took care of business, finishing first in every race they competed in.

The women’s varsity eight began the day squaring off against the Tigers. The Bombers got out to a decent start but quickly began to take advantage of the Tigers. By the time the Bombers emerged from the Cliff Street bridge they had about a boat sized lead. Accelerating even more, the Bombers ended up finishing off the Tigers with a 13.3 second margin of victory. 

Still looking for its first win of the season, the men’s varsity eight came out of the gates looking to make the day theirs. The Bombers began strong, up a boat length on the Tigers and two boats on the Yellowjackets in the early stages. After the boats passed the Cliff Street bridge, the Tigers started to make up some ground on the Bombers but the Bombers did not break. The Bombers earned their first victory of the spring season with a 15.4 second margin of victory. 

The men continued with the men’s second varsity eight competing against the Tigers second and third varsity eight. The Bombers and Tigers second varsity eight were neck and neck for most of the race but the Bombers pulled ahead and won by the slimmest margin of the day. Just two seconds separated the Bombers and Tigers as the Bombers took the win with a time of 6:53.7.

Men’s head coach Justin Stangel said the team talked a lot about what success is this past week and he believes they found it during the competition.

“I think each race is trying to take steps of race plan and execution,” Stangel said. “We talked a lot about how we define success this week and the result is not always where the success is, it’s all about did we challenge ourselves to the best of our abilities and execute how we want to execute. If the outcome is a win or a loss, great if it’s a win and if it’s a loss let’s go back to the drawing board and think about it. But, I think it was a really good day to come out and I think the guys that did have success in that frame and to have the wins, that makes it better.”

The women owned the rest of the day’s races and retook the Inlet with a race between the Bombers and Tigers novice teams squaring off in the W3V/N8. This race was a textbook example of how to completely dominate an opponent. The Bombers quickly got out to a boat length lead and never looked back. By the Cliff Street bridge, the Bombers were up about three boat lengths and when the Tigers emerged from the Taughannock Blvd bridge, the Bombers were already passing the boathouse and coasting to victory. The Bombers took down the Tigers by a startling two minutes and 34 second margin, the largest margin of victory for the Bombers this season. 

The only four-person race of the day for the Bombers would come with the women’s third varsity four competing against the Tigers. The race began very tightly contested with the Bombers only being able to lead by a pinch out of the gate. The Bombers slowly built up a stronger lead and emerged victorious with a 19.1 second margin of victory.

To end the day, it was back to the women’s eight person boats. The women’s first varsity eight was first and took on the Yellowjackets. The teams began very evenly, with neither squad getting the upper hand, until the Bombers dug deep and emerged about a boat lengths ahead from under the Cliff Street Bridge. The South Hill squad did not take its foot off the gas and finished off the race dominating the Yellowjackets with a win that separated the two teams by 34.6 seconds. The women’s second varsity eight also faced the Yellowjackets and took care of business even more handedly, putting down the Yellowjackets with a 45.7 second margin of victory.

Women’s head coach Becky Robinson said the team had been working on confidence and composure during the week and that the work the team has been putting in is showing on race day.

“We worked on some things this week in particular with the start in the 1V, in the 2V just working on getting more kind of feel and connection on it and then we went into the race and they felt like they improved on those things,” Robinson said. “Right now it’s about improvement. I love having two races because it’s still fitness training, it’s early enough in the season that we still want to work on that and what I see from the crews is that the work they’ve done this year has paid off. They are fit, growing well and it showed on a daily basis.”

Stangel said that the senior class is a strong one and not losing a single race on Senior Day made the day just that much more special.

“I think it’s just a testament to their robustness of being a student athlete and making it four years,” Stangel said. “I think it’s something pretty special to say that you’ve done that. I think the sport of rowing is a trying one, as the condition showed today, and that’s something pretty special to have on your resume as well. These guys being able to do it for four years and finish their last home race with a W makes it even sweeter.”

Robinson said while every senior class is special, the class of 2024 will be defined by the toughness and determination they showed.

“I think what defines this senior class is that they’re challenged with COVID and they came out for a sport, those who were novices, they knew nothing about,” Robinson said. “They were remote at Ithaca College for all of their freshman year and I think the thing that struck me the most is, I spent a semester with them on Zoom and then they got here and they all wore masks, they finally took their masks off after a year and I was like ‘ohh that’s what you look like cause you’re not two-dimensional anymore and you don’t have a mask on your face.’ I think that really is hats off to them and I’m so glad with all of that going on that they found rowing but at the same time, that is how I’ll remember the class of 2024. Just resilience through a really crappy time.”

After the end of the races, the teams honored their seniors and the seniors ceremoniously jumped into the Inlet. Stangel said the team had some extra motivation to win for the seniors and the win made the day come together for them.

“I think they want to end their career on the Inlet officially doing it with a win and it makes the jump in off the dock a little bit nicer not having a loss,” Stangel said.

The women and men will next travel to compete in the Knecht Cup Regatta at 7:30 a.m. April 13 in Cherry Hill, NJ.